


on the sunny side of the street

by disasteratsea



Series: tiptoe through the tulips [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, F/M, First Meetings, short and fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 10:49:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2385632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disasteratsea/pseuds/disasteratsea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Howling Commandos have a few chance meetings with this group of Russian soldiers.</p><p>This is the first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	on the sunny side of the street

It’s in a bar in Siberia that they have their first encounter.

They guys have themselves a table near the middle of the room, where they are surrounded by people listening to Dugan regal them with tales of adventur. The others chime in with their own additions now and again but they rarely feel the need.

Dugan sure could weave himself a story.

Bucky’s watching Steve watch Peggy at the bar. He nudges his friend hard in the ribs with his elbow. “For Christ’s sake, Steve,” he says “just get off your ass and go talk to her.”

“What? No, she’s busy. Shut up.”

Busy his ass; she’s just talking to some moon-eyed soldiers. He’s about to get up and tell Steve that, well fine, if he’s too chicken to go and talk to her than he’ll just do it himself, when their table hushes around them.

They turn to see what’s going on and notice the group that’s just walked in from the cold.

“Soviets” Falsworth whispers to the men at their table.

The Soviets walks passed them on their way to a free booth in the back. Steve nods at them in greeting and they nod back. War’s made strange bedfellows of them all, his Ma would say.

Bucky can’t get a good look at them through the throng of people but as they’re removing their heavy coats enough people shift for him to catch sights of the red-head with them.

The red-head is the most beautiful sight he’s seen in months, Hell, maybe in his whole life. Her hair falls over her shoulders in loose curls when she takes her hat off. Beside him Gabe lets out a low whistle, he must’ve seen her too.

“Any of you fellas speak Russian?" Morita says dryly. He’s staring at her, he must be. Steve claps him on the shoulder laughing. Regular ladies’ man back home, he says, gobsmacked over a dame in a bar in the middle of nowhere.

Bucky waves them all off and stands to go introduce himself. She’s made her way to the bar to get herself a drink. He sidles up to join her at the bar, shoulders squared as ever and his most charming smile in place, and orders his own drink.

He tilts his glass toward her in what he’s come to think is the one truly universal gesture and she grins back, clinking her glass with his before downing the shot.

“Sergeant James Barnes.” He introduces himself.

“Natalia” she responds in kind with her grin still in place. Her voice is smooth as silk and despite her small stature he thinks that this is a woman whose very presence can fill the room if she wants it to.

Natalia’s hand is soft in is his own as she accepts his handshake. “Would you like to dance?” Hand in hand she pulls him to the small dance floor. It’s nothing like the dancehalls he likes to frequent back home, no wild movements and shouts, just a few couples dancing to the soft music.

He loses track of the time and the music in Natalia’s smile, her hand at his shoulder and his at her waist. Her hair sets off the green of her eyes and she hums along to the music.

At some point they had danced their way to a darkened area under a broken light. Bucky can only just see her high cheekbones and the smooth curve of her jaw in the dark. When Natalia kisses him his whole body flushes, his fingers press into the soft fabric of her dress and his other slides to the back of her neck.

He thinks that if a man could ever truly be drunk off of a woman it would be Natalia, without a doubt.

However long it is that they neck in the dark corner of the bar it ends when someone from her group calls for her. Too soon, he thinks, but then he also thinks that any time they separate will be too soon for him.

“Goodnight James.” She whispers against his lips before she disappears altogether. “Thank you for the dance.”

The boys are laughing at something Dugan’s said when he rejoins them at the table, Stave claps him on his back again and he snaps out of the daze he’s been in. If it weren’t for her lipstick still staining his skin and swollen lips, his hair disheveled from her fingers running through it Bucky might think he had dreamed Natalia up. There’s no sign her group had ever been there.

He’ll probably never see her again, Natalia will be the story he tells his sons when they’re old enough, the dame who took his breath away during the war, but he’ll think of her on the road and dream of her at night.

**Author's Note:**

> Hoping to turn this into a short series of oneshots.
> 
> Title taken from the son of the same name.


End file.
